Published on Mar 16, 1998
As much as I love some of the music that the Alan Parsons
Project put out when it was together, I’ve always found it
difficult to uncover the hidden messages of their albums. Each
album was based on a theme, with all the songs intertwined to
hammer home a point.
It’s been a while since I last dusted off one of their albums in
the Pierce Archive. Maybe it was seeing how bad I’ve been doing in
the staff NCAA pool (special thanks to Kansas for effectively
killing my chances with their loss on Sunday) that drove me towards
their 1980 album
The Turn Of A Friendly Card. Remembered for two songs, it
contains one of their more confusing and disturbing — albeit true
— messages about life.
Of course, the theme of this album is chance — you can guess
that by the image of a stained glass playing card on the cover. But
the actual theme is well above the notion of gambling. Instead, it
appears to be how we look at life, especially the hand we’ve been
dealt, and what chances lie ahead of us if we’re willing to take
some risks. The end result might be worse than what we originally
had, but that’s the price we pay for taking such a risk.
In a sense, that’s what’s disturbing to me about the theme of
The Turn Of A Friendly Card — the fact that this is so
true. Dennis Miller said it best in a rant about the homeless in
America — we realize that the person we see rummaging through the
garbage can could be us; many of these people have received one too
many bad breaks in their lives. Why them and not us we may never
understand.
Let’s see, where was I… oh, yes, the music. After the lead-in
provided by “May Be A Price To Pay,” vocalist Lenny Zakatek brings
us radio hit number one “Games People Play”; in this, our hero
makes the conscious decision to walk away from the life he’s been
leading to try and find something different. This departure is
captured in radio hit number two, “Time,” sung by Eric Woolfson. A
definite ballad, this is one that immediately tugs on the heart
strings, and stays with you for a long time. There’s a reason this
song became so popular — it could be one of the Alan Parsons
Project’s best numbers.
But no sooner has our hero left his old life behind when the
voice of reason kicks in on “I Don’t Wanna Go Home.” This also
could be the voice of doubt — you take your pick: “You can’t win
you damn fool / You drank all the wine from the cup / And your
painted lady’s gone now / And you’re way back on teh downside,
Lookin’ up.” As our hero realizes his plight, he decides not to
return to his past – possibly because he can’t face ridicule on his
return.
Following the brief instrumental “The Gold Bug,” we’re presented
with the suite “The Turn Of A Friendly Card”. With the
“introduction” of the title song (part one), our hero continues to
press his luck, if only to return to what he used to be on “Snake
Eyes.” And although he thinks luck is about to come his way, he
eventually hits rock bottom with a deafening thud… which leads us
to “Nothing Left To Lose.” On this number, the realization finally
comes to him, and he is left with a clean slate to start his life
again: “You read the book you turn the page / You change your life
in a thousand ways / The dawn of reason lights in your eyes / With
the key you realise / To the kingdom of the wise.” A reprise of the
title track concludes the tale.
As powerful as the story and the lyrics are on
The Turn Of A Friendly Card, the music does not always live
up to the same expectations. Sure, some of the performances are
wonderful, and the whole album has the unique feel of a Parsons
production. But in one sense, the magic that was found on albums
like
Pyramid is lacking here.
Still, this is an album that is worth checking out — as well as
listening to closely. Something tells me that people will pull
different messages from this one than the one I have outlined —
and unless Mr. Parsons happens to be reading and wishes to add his
two cents to the discussion, we might never really know what the
true message is on
The Turn Of A Friendly Card.